Food frenzy

 

 

I've been coping with the stress of finding out about my foot by cooking. I pretty much cope with all major life problems by cooking. The fact that the garden is producing all kinds of wondrous bounty is fueling the fire. The only down side is that my foot is officially a mess and really hurts when I cook. I've put a stool in the kitchen and use that whenever I can, but it's hard.

So the doctor has said surgery is needed for my foot. It appears I've lost my posterior tibial tendon. Apparently I had some tendinitis there and the trauma of the accident snapped it. Fortunately I have pictures of my swollen, bruised ankle from right after the accident. And while posterior tibial tendon dysfunction is fairly common -- causing falling arches, having the tendon snap is not as common and is, of course, not good.

The recovery time isn't good. It's about six weeks for the site to heal and 10 months recovery total. I'm also not entirely thrilled with the doctor I've been assigned, he seems a bit managed-care oriented.

All of the material I've read indicates that treatment of a ruptured tendon usually consists of taking another tendon from the back of your foot and putting it over where the tibial tendon was. The tibial tendon is the tendon that pretty much holds the structure of the back of the foot together. Without it the foot collapses inward. In addition, they put titanium spikes in the ankle to stabilize it. But this guy acted as though repairing the tendon wasn't that necessary. It's been pretty necessary up to now and without it my foot is completely collapsing, so -- as the kids say -- WTF? AS I told the doctor I have at least 30 more years on this foot and I want it to work -- well.

Plus why is modern medicine set up so we have to go online to research our problems because we can't trust doctors to be as interested in practicing the best available medicine as they are in bonuses from the insurance people for avoiding expensive procedures?

Anyway, I'm scheduled to have surgery Sept. 24. It's outpatient, which is just fine with me. Hospitals nowadays are breeding grounds for staph infections and flesh-eating bacteria. The less time I spend there, the better. It is general anesthesia, though and I'll be pretty much completely incapacitated for a couple of weeks.

So I'm cooking in a mad frenzy. Cooking is so life-affirming. I love it for the smells and the creating something useful out of raw materials. I usually have my best moments of inspiration then. I used the zucchini to make a pasta dish. I grilled zucchini and onion in my grilling basket and added some sausage. The smoky, grilled flavor was amazing in the finished dish.

I'm still plagued by peaches. I've put up 23 jars of preserves, 19 jars of canned peaches; I've made six cobblers, one peach pie and for my latest, greatest creation, I made a peach, streusel cake for my monthly cake obligation. I'm serving it with whipped cream. I also froze a large bag of peaches.

I told Rob that I'm done with the peaches ... at least for this year. He says he's done forever and ever. Last I saw him, he was looking of an ax.

Peach streusel bundt cake

2 sticks butter (one cup) softened
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose *flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh peaches, diced
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
confectioner's sugar
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Beat butter and sugar until creamed and fluffy, but not over-processed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. If using a stand mixer, make sure to scrape down the sides. Add almond and vanilla extracts. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together using a whisk. Add to butter mixture alternately with the sour cream. Fold in peaches. Mix streusel mixture together -- brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon -- using a food processor or by hand until butter is cut in. Pour one third of the batter in bundt pan. Sprinkle with one half of the streusel mix. Pour second third of the batter on top of streusel. Sprinkle second half on streusel mixture on top of batter and spoon final third of the batter over the streusel mixture. Bake for 70 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with confectioner's sugar and serve with whipped cream.

Grilled sausage, veggie pasta bake

1 pound sweet Italian sausage links
1 large onion diced into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes
1 large zucchini cut into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes
Olive oil spray
1 can Progresso crushed tomatoes with puree
1 package *Dreamfields pasta penne prepared al dente
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 ounces provolone cheese
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup red wine
Parmesan cheese

Spray prepared veggies and cooking basket with olive oil spray so all veggies are coated. Place the veggies and sausage in grilling basket and grill until sausage has browned and veggies are starting to brown. Spray 13 X 11 inch pan with olive oil spray. Pour pasta in pan. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese and half the provolone. Top with grilled veggies and sausage. Pour tomatoes on top. Add bay leaves. Pour wine on top and mix it in a bit with a fork. Top with remaining cheese, using Parmesan last. Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is warm and bubbly.

*Notes: I've been using King Arthur flour's whole wheat, white flour, which is whole wheat ground really fine in place of unbleached white flour. so far, it's proving a good substitute and it makes me feel better about my whole grain intake.
Dreamfields pasta claims to have found a way to enclose wheat/carb molecules so they pass through the body, meaning that the effective carb content is lowered considerably. You can't taste the difference and according to my dad, who is a (Ph.D.) scientist, this method could work and seems scientifically sound.